Driver commits suicide during traffic stop

Oregon State Police and the Lane County Sheriff’s Department reported that a driver headed toward Veneta fatally shot himself after OSP attempted to stop him for speeding.

On Wednesday, April 3, an OSP trooper tried to stop a 1987 Chevy Corvette for traveling 75 miles an hour in a 55-mile zone.

The vehicle initially yielded, but just long enough for the passenger, a white male adult, to exit and start walking, with his hands held in the air, toward the OSP patrol car.

The driver of the Corvette then pulled out back on to Highway 126, continuing eastbound.

The trooper returned to his car, following the Corvette.

After driving eastbound for about a mile at speeds of only 50 to 60 miles per hour, the Corvette again slowed and pulled to the shoulder of the highway.

As the trooper approached the vehicle, he heard a single gunshot and the Corvette again started to move, traveling about 30 to 40 yards before rolling into a ditch and striking a tree. The trooper went to the car and saw that the driver had a self-inflicted gunshot, but according to the sheriff’s report, the driver was “beyond any medical assistance.”

The driver, David Eugene Vale, was confirmed dead by medics from the Lane Fire Auth-ority, which arrived on the scene shortly after the stop.